Inspections at Northwest Raise Questions

The Associated Press On Oct 3, 2005

Reports filed by federal aviation inspectors during the first
month of a strike by Northwest Airlines Corp.'s mechanics challenge
assertions by executives that operations are running smoothly,
according to a newspaper's review of the records.

In a story for Sunday's editions, the Star Tribune newspaper
reported that the inspection records _ which were reviewed by two
independent aviation experts _ describe training deficiencies among
replacement workers, thin staffing, maintenance blunders and
mistakes in recording aircraft repairs.

It cites one incident in which mechanics failed to find a dead
bird in the engine of a jet about to leave Memphis, Tenn., but a
co-pilot spotted it before takeoff.

In another case, it said inspectors watched replacement workers
in Philadelphia work through the night to replace a brake. That job
normally takes experienced mechanics less than three hours, the
experts said.

The Star Tribune reported that Northwest declined to discuss the
substance of more than 100 reports it obtained.

On Sunday, Eagan-based Northwest said in a statement it had told
the newspaper that the company considered it inappropriate for it
to comment on FAA internal documents.

"Northwest remains confident in the quality of its ongoing
maintenance program. Our operation continues to run normally," the
airline said. The statement also said the discovery of the dead
bird came from the typical visual preflight safety inspection by
the co-pilot, which would reveal such issues.

Since the mechanics walked out Aug. 20, Northwest has used 1,200
replacements, a few hundred managers and outside vendors to
maintain and repair its planes. According to AMFA, about 40 of its
members have crossed the picket lines. Since the strike began,
Northwest has filed for bankruptcy protection, which typically
triggers more FAA inspections at an airline to ensure maintenance
is not compromised.

After the strike, the FAA raised the number of personnel
assigned to Northwest from 53 to about 80. The additional
inspectors allow the FAA to conduct more spot checks and write more
reports, but the agency still can't monitor all activities at the
nation's fourth-largest airline, which operates 1,400 daily
flights.

Before the strike, Northwest insisted its replacement workers
were fully licensed and trained, and that it wouldn't compromise on
safety.

But Northwest has acknowledged conducting "refresher training"
for replacements since the strike began to ensure proper
documentation of aircraft maintenance, a crucial safety discipline,
the Star Tribune reported.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said
the training was initiated after the agency's top inspection
manager at Northwest discussed record-keeping problems with the
airline. That training has been completed.

Cory said the FAA does not comment on how well individual
airlines comply with regulations. But she said many of the FAA
inspection reports found no faults, while Northwest promptly
corrected shortcomings. A few reports remain under
investigation.

She said the FAA is "seeing great improvement in the logbook
area" since replacements were retrained. And she said Northwest is
complying with staffing level rules.

In its statement Sunday, Northwest said several of the issues
were addressed by the time the Star Tribune contacted it Tuesday.
It said all repairs were completed according to Boeing and Airbus
maintenance procedures and had met the airline's maintenance
standards.

"None of the items provided by the Star Tribune involved safety
of flight issues," Northwest said.

With hundreds of inspection reports still unavailable, it is
impossible to draw definitive conclusions about safety at the
airline from the sample of FAA reports it reviewed, the newspaper
reported. None of the reports revealed any in-flight maintenance
problems.

Union leaders for Northwest's 4,200 striking mechanics told the
Star Tribune that the FAA reports bolster their contentions that
the airline's reliance on replacement mechanics has put the public
at risk.

"These records provide examples that are even worse than we
imagined," said John Glynn, maintenance standards coordinator for
the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

The Star Tribune said it had the FAA documents, along with
dozens of Northwest's internal aircraft maintenance logs, reviewed
last week by former National Transportation Safety Board member
John Goglia and by John Krawczyk, a former mechanic and maintenance
inspector for United Airlines with 20 years of airline maintenance
experience. It said Krawczyk has no ties to Northwest or its
mechanics' union.

Krawczyk said the mistakes exposed the public to danger.

Goglia, a licensed airframe and powerplant mechanic who is a
professor of aviation science at St. Louis University, said he saw
evidence of training deficiencies and documentation errors
throughout the inspection reports and maintenance logs.

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